The fifth most popular story in 2010 was actually a story from 2009. It was however, a subject close to the hearts of Mac users - and proof that in a year dominated by the iPhone and iPad, we were all still interested in the Mac.

At the end of August 2009 Apple had released Snow Leopard, a £25 upgrade for users already running Leopard, or £129 for those still running earlier versions of the Mac OS on their Mac. The big secret was that even Mac users running earlier versions of Mac OS X could still install Snow Leopard from the £25 disc. The snag? Doing so breaks Apple's end user licence agreement (EULA), as Alan Eyzaguire, director of software product marketing at Apple Europe told The Guardian.

"Technically, yes, it would upgrade a Tiger install," Eyzaguire told The Guardian's Charles Arthur, "but in the licensing, no."

Judging from the popularity of the story on Macworld UK, many readers opted for the legally-questionable cheaper option once they had read the confirmation that it was possible to upgrade for £25.